Esnath Magola, The University of Manchester
Every year, newly qualified healthcare professionals (NQHPs) register as independent practitioners and begin to develop expertise with supported learning in the workplace. Entry to practice symbolises a period of change marked by the initial acquisition of new responsibilities for patient care and is referred to as transition. Studies in medicine and nursing have shown that transition negatively impacts service delivery, quality of patient care and workforce retention. They also show unequivocally, that having structures in place to support the transition of NQHPs reduces patient mortality, enhances patient safety, improves job satisfaction, reduces staff turnover and improves organisational culture. As the healthcare landscape of the UK changes and private sector partners (PSPs) provide more services for the National Health Service (NHS), it is important that these organisations and their practitioners can deliver high quality patient care. Implementing tailored peer support structures have been shown to be effective mechanisms to support the transition of other healthcare professionals, but these structures, or evidence on their effectiveness, do not currently exist in for community pharmacists.
This project ran from October 2015 to October 2016.
